The Mental Health Benefits of Being Seen

Being seen has immense mental health benefits. When we are seen for who we are as human beings with our strengths and our flaws, we are able to move through the world more securely and confidently. Feeling seen, understood, and accepted can support emotional well-being, self-worth, and healthier relationships.

Being Seen and Anxiety

Being seen can help with anxiety and panic disorders, as your body and brain learn that there is no real danger, since you have the experience of knowing the safety of being accepted for who you are, as you are, flaws and all. Working with an anxiety therapist can help individuals explore feelings of safety, self-acceptance, and emotional regulation.

Being Seen and Depression and Grief

Being seen is immensely helpful for depression and grief, as both of these tend to cause the individuals to isolate, which inhibits healing and the community support needed in order to move forward. Individual therapy can provide a supportive space to process difficult emotions, navigate grief, and reconnect with others.

Being Seen and Neurodivergence

In individuals with ADHD or other forms of neurodivergence, being seen and accepted contradicts the label that there’s something wrong with you. This creates space for you to begin understanding and accepting yourself, as well as learning behaviors and tools to move through your life in a way that works for you, not against you. ADHD therapy can support self-understanding, self-esteem, and the development of strategies that work with an individual's unique needs.

Being Seen and Trauma

When it comes to trauma, many individuals may isolate within their experience, feel that there’s something wrong with them, or have immense shame that the trauma event was their fault. Being seen can allow the person to begin taking steps toward fundamental healing. Trauma-informed therapy can help individuals work through shame, develop self-compassion, and build a greater sense of emotional safety.

If the trauma is related to abusive relationships, the corrective experience of experiencing secure relationships can help with the negative cognitions that develop through developmental and complex trauma. Attachment-focused therapy can help individuals understand relationship patterns, build trust, and develop more secure connections with themselves and others.

How to Begin Practicing Being Seen

A foundational way an individual can start practicing being seen is to begin with themselves. Mirror work is a powerful tool to promote self-acceptance and self-love. This includes looking at yourself in the mirror, deeply into your eyes, and offering yourself compassionate phrases. Self-esteem therapy can help individuals strengthen self-worth, practice self-compassion, and develop a more accepting relationship with themselves.

Other ways to start increasing a sense of “being seen” with yourself can include journaling, meditation, and compassionate self-reflection through practices such as yoga or therapy.

Once you feel comfortable with the relationship with yourself, I’d encourage you to find just one person in your life with whom you feel you can be safe enough to begin to build the experience of “being seen”. Once this experience becomes more familiar (also known as the experience of a secure attachment), it becomes easier to expand this to other relationships and other areas of our lives. Developing secure attachment can support healthier relationships, emotional connection, and a stronger sense of belonging.

With this one person, you can practice asking if they can hold space for you when you’re not feeling well and you need somebody to talk to, and practice being in their presence without being “on”.

Even further, you can practice expressing your needs and having them met or, if they’re not able to be met completely (which is highly likely), you can gain the experience that your needs are acknowledged and that the other individual works to meet you in whatever capacity they can.

Learning to Accept Yourself

Another insight I'd like to add to promote the practice of "being seen" is to practice accepting yourself even when you’re engaging in dialogue that isn’t self-accepting, essentially learning to love yourself even when you don’t love yourself all the time.

This is the most honest way to build self-acceptance, and to continuously meet yourself exactly where you are (further allowing others to do the same). Practicing self-acceptance is an ongoing process that can support personal growth, emotional well-being, and healthier relationships.

If you are looking for a therapist in Encino or Los Angeles, California, who specializes in self-esteem, anxiety, trauma, and attachment-focused therapy, reach out today.

With Gratitude,

Atalie Abramovici